Episode Report Card Lauren S: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT See a Penny, Pick It Up
By Lauren S | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.27.2006
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Slowly, everyone's stories are starting to emerge. Damien is a criminal with a heart of gold and a solid gambling addiction, who uses his ill-gotten $10K to bet on the ponies. Miraculously, he wins and then uses the money to lease a new car, start up his own business, and anonymously move the man he shot into the pricey VIP wing of the hospital. His brother is less than thrilled by all this and in following him, learns he's got a cute, sweet girlfriend who I suspect will end up in harm's way sooner than later. Carlos, high off of his date with Mae, decides to defend his first felony. It becomes more than he can chew when his client is fingered as the thug who shot a security guard the night before. Sound familiar? He freaks out, but then everything's better when he gets a call from Mae. She's staying in New York and working for Laura after all, and Erik The Mysterious Voice turns out to be her brother and the holder of one of two keys needed to open The Box. Laura, in good hands with a mysterious runaway minding her daughter, goes to work for an interior designer but the job turns out to be as be an assistant to an assistant. But on Whitney's advice, she uses her years of life experience to threaten the creep she works for an inadvertently impress her big new boss. And Whitney's still got a cheating fiancée who doesn't seem to really want to marry her. She's also got some strange instincts, as despite his being creepy, sullen, and basically an asshole, she decides to hire Steven and trust him in a meeting with a huge client. Fortunately for both of them, he ends up wowing them. Too bad he has the opposite effect on his estranged wife, who reacts to his showing back up in her life by having the locks changed on her (beautiful) apartment. Forget the six degrees and these characters -- I could spend an entire hour on a tour of the various homes these people live in. Wow. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Damien's got VO duty this week. He's in a hospital, staring through a window to another room, and saying that when things get difficult, he keeps reminding himself that he's in glorious New York City, where anything is possible. There's some beautiful b-roll of the city and the river, and then a crowd on the sidewalk with one person carrying a bunch of green balloons. He continues to talk about the reasons people might be there, over shots from last week. Someone wanting to hide out and find something better is Mae. Someone thinking they've found happiness already yet is about to be blindsided is Whitney. Laura is someone just trying to stay brave. He loves that some people do get second chances -- Steven. That's what Damien needs for himself, is the idea that something unexpected can change anything, like when Mae ran into Carlos on the subway.
The two potential lovebirds pick up right where they left off, with Mae changing seats to sit next to Carlos. The first thing he asks is what she did to her hair. "I... went brown." ("And I couldn't stand that disgusting plastic wig anymore.") The weird thing about their conversation is that the two of them are positively shouting -- I get that a train might be loud, but a) I've never had to shout on one, regardless, and b) the Magic of Television reduces the background noise so that we can understand them, just leaving it as two people talking strangely loud. It's weird. He tells her that he's been looking for her everywhere, and we cut to the two of them having dinner/breakfast as it seems the sun is coming up. The date is shot from outside the restaurant, but the two seem to be really happy and having a great time with one another. Damien VOs that the great thing about the city is how anyone can affect anyone else, which in a way makes everyone connected. Wow, there's a novel concept. I wonder if the show is going to explore that idea at all. I'm certainly glad he spelled it out for me and the rest of the viewing audience because we might not have gotten it otherwise. Carlos literally is so giddy he can't stay in his seat, and keeps getting up and circling Mae and the table. Cute or odd? I have to say, kind of odd. But he's still really cute.
Laura is getting ready for her first day at work, and Eliza asks why she's nervous. Laura explains that a friend of hers pulled strings to get her this great job, where she'll be learning under a designer named J.T. Zeff. Eliza is playing in front of the mirror, and asks what the J.T. stands for. Laura tells her it's probably nothing. "You can have initials that stand for nothing when you're designing a 2,000-square-foot restaurant in SoHo." She gives a little head shake and pronounces it with some airs. The phone rings, and Laura asks if Eliza wants to get it, but is informed, "I'm putting on eye shadow." It's really quite cute. Laura, having been told what's what, goes to get the phone and nearly collides with Mae/Claire, who has walked in and grabbed it. Although she quit the day before, it seems she must have kept the house keys and an understanding that she could walk in at any time and assume her place back in the household, I guess. I would have maybe tried knocking, but that's just me. Laura doesn't seem upset or surprised at all that her former nanny is back and working like nothing happened, and takes the call. It's some sort of ominous call -- she gets very upset on the phone and whispers harshly that the person should never call her at home. I'm very curious what this could be about. She's shaken, and M/C picks up on it and gives her a smile and takes Eliza to the other room.